Do I need to register ports as “used” with ICANN?

Question

In the application that I am currently working on, I need to open three ports. At the moment it is 5024 - 5026, but when reading, I found that they are in the registered range of ICANN (i.e. ports <49151).

Is there a need for me to inform any organization that I plan to use these ports if it is only on the local network, or can I just go and use them?

Answer 1

You can just use them. The only way you should notify ICANN is that you will have a significant number of clients using these ports in common use; in this case, you need to try to register the application with the port in order to prevent possible collisions with other applications using these ports.

Answer 2

How big is the project? If there are more than a thousand Internet users, you can study them somehow. If it is on a closed LAN of any size, it does not matter.

Answer 3

The language in the corresponding RFC is that SHOULD NOT applications use unregistered ports. No one will sue you if you use them; the only problem you get is that if someone else decides (1) to use the same port (2), not register it, you will be confused with each other. As McWafflestix says, you can continue to use them.